REES COMPLETES A BLOG-FREE WEEK

AND SEEGER COMPLETES 90 BANJO-FULL YEARS

I CONGRATULATE them both:

THE TWIN BARDS OF BEACON, NY!

(YES: I, too, want to write “The Twin Beards of Beacon, NY,” but David Rees has not yet grown his SEEGER BEARD, even though we know IT IS TIME)

OFF TO LONDON, ENGLAND, on a plane.

I WILL TALK TO YOU from there.

That is all.

THANK YOU EUROPE for not claiming copyright on this American song, which is now in the public domain, as performed at a historic civic event on the steps of a publicly owned memorial…

(AND THANK YOU, ABK from the comments, for bringing it to my attention)

YESTERDAY ON WNYC, our local public radio station, a woman called the Brian Lehrer show to say that she supported Obama, but she did not feel comfortable with the idea of America throwing itself a big party.

I HAVE NEVER FELT MORE LIKE AN ANGRY FOX NEWS HOST than when I was listening to that call. If you can’t celebrate America today, when can you?

EVEN IF YOU IGNORE the generations’ worth of work and suffering that made this historically unprecedented moment possible…

EVEN IF YOU IGNORE the sheer, humbling, novelistic beauty of the electorate making arguably the most implausible choice available to it, at arguably the most critical time…

AND EVEN IF YOU IGNORE that this choice was the ONE WE WANTED, the caller and I, and even if it had gone the other way…

EVEN PETE SEEGER knows (having said so on the same radio station this morning) that there is still enough to feel proud of in a peaceful transition of power. There is enough to be glad of in the power of our vote, and what potential is contained within that power, even in the bleakest, most imperfect times, so long as we keep faith with it.

AND FRANKLY, if Pete Seeger–em-er eff-ing PETE SEEGER, who never stopped singing for his land–feels that the day is worth celebrating, then I, at least, will sing along.

That is all.

That is all.

UPDATED: THIS ALSO PROVES we live in astonishing, happy times.

THIS LAND is their land. And I have never felt more optimistic.

THAT IS ALL.